TheHammer24 wrote:Would people have traded Staal for JJ Hines sight being 20/20

I thought that would have been an excellent move at the time, and even though you make room for a guy as good as Jack Johnson should be, the Pens are pretty good on defense right now.

If (and I said if) you were to go back and get a different player instead of Staal, the best thing for this team would be either a top line, goal sniping winger in the mold of Brett Hull or a power forward in the mold of Rick Tocchet. Hard to find guys like that anymore though.

If you were just looking at the 06 draft, Kessel or Mueller look good right now (as does Toews, who is more of a playmaker), and Milan Lucic looks like he could be the kind of power forward the league hasn't seen in a while. All of them are far from sure things at this point, and it should be noted that Jordan Staal has more goals than any of the guys I mentioned to this point.

netwolf wrote:Kessel . . . Mueller . . . Toews . . . Lucic . . . and it should be noted that Jordan Staal has more goals than any of the guys I mentioned to this point.

I'll admit, I was a little surprised when I read this. I'm sure that most people here aren't aware of this, or at least certainly wouldn't pick Staal if they had to guess who had the most goals in their careers so far.

netwolf wrote:Kessel . . . Mueller . . . Toews . . . Lucic . . . and it should be noted that Jordan Staal has more goals than any of the guys I mentioned to this point.

I'll admit, I was a little surprised when I read this. I'm sure that most people here aren't aware of this, or at least certainly wouldn't pick Staal if they had to guess who had the most goals in their careers so far.

Before reading that, I was glad they took Staal. After, even if they were all 7+7 through 11-12 games, I would be happy with Staal.

After taking a quick look, I don't think the cumulative NHL stats along the right include this season. Kessel has closed the gap so far this season, but I believe Staal is still currently holding the lead.

I wouldn't have taken Kessel...Washington said they wanted no part of him and Boston desperately tried to trade up to Washington's spot (5 to 4) to avoid taking Kessel...

IIRC, some scouts were talking to each other and asked, "did you talk to the idiot yet?" referring to Kessel...he's a selfish player that doesn't always respect his teammates and there are questions surrounding his conditioning...he's the type of player that plays for like 4 or 5 teams over the course of his career because he falls out of favor with one and another team sees him flash his brilliance, trades for him, then they get sick of him disappearing and move him...in that regard, he's like a more talented Tyler Arnason or Brandon Bochenski (but not in terms of play style)...